The majority of currently used poles, such as for power or telephone, are wooden poles which have been treated to retard rotting and the like. In spite of the efforts to retard the rotting these poles are, after a short life span, weakened by rotting and erosion, normally at the ground level.
It has been the practice in the past to set a wooden stub along the side of the pole to be reinforced and bind the stub to the weakened pole thus lending the strength of the stub to the pole. This method of pole reinforcement is not only unsightly but further requires an excavation for setting the stub. The necessity of excavation prior to setting the stub involves considerable cost and inconvenience.
Efforts have been made to reinforce poles with the use of metallic stubs, which are less bulky in cross sectional area than the wooden stubs and which are not as unsightly. In the main, however, most metallic stubs have been of structural steel such as an I-beam and although these stubs are easy to drive they are not structurally suited for pole reinforcement. The point contact of the aforementioned stubs or splints tends to cause a loosening of the attachment band due to their gradually becoming more embedded in the pole due to the relative movement under cyclic loading.
To improve upon the splinting of wooden poles, metallic stubs have been designed having a small cross-sectional area to permit easy driving into the ground and have been shaped to provide a pair of spaced apart pole engagement surfaces which either are shaped complementarily to the curvature or engage tangentially with the poles. These configurations reduce the formation of water retaining pockets and the like which tend to result in the rotting of the pole. While the new splints have many advantages, as noted above, one of the problems with the contoured splint has been in the driving of the splint down immediately adjacent the pole. For the greatest utilization of the splint, contact should be along the entire length of the splint. When placing the splint it must be located adjacent the pole and maintained in a contiguous placement during the insertion period.
It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for quickly and easily placing and driving splints adjacent vertical wooden poles which are partially buried in the ground.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a driving mechanism for accurately and rapidly driving a splint adjacent a vertical pole including means assuring proper contact between the driving means and the splint resulting in a splint contiguous with the pole the entire length of the splint.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a splint driving mechanism which also serves as a stabilizing and placing means for locating the splint adjacent the pole to be reinforced.
It is still another object to provide a stabilizing and bracing element for use in conjunction with a boom when driving the splint adjacent a pole.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a tool for driving splints adjacent a vertical pole which includes as an integral part thereof a contoured means for close placement with the pole and further a depending guiding means for insertion in the splint during the driving assuring that the driving tool contacts the splint vertically.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a driving mechanism which is capable of driving splints for wooden poles, pipes or rods, and further, is relatively portable enabling the mechanism to be easily transported to the locus of the desired drive.
It is another object to provide a method for efficiently and sefely handling splints from a supply to a location adjacent a pole.